Believe it or not, posting this for the second time. I wanted a longer and more detailed rant.

Despite I am a two year old fan of a franchise, I feel insulted.

Let's start with the new feature to the game: penlights.

Penlights are really popular in Japan. It is used in Western countries too, but not often. Also, I don't see: Fu! Hai! Woo...Hai! ect in Western countries, only in Japan. I actually thought it was a nice touch to the game to potray what live shows really look like in Japan! Namco promised us to control over 10.000 penlights. Only on game included stages. DL Live stages don't have it. I watched the S4U videos and no, trust me, they are too lazy to include 'em on the DL Stage.

2. Songs

I love all of the new songs! Miracle Night is my favourite. This is my new favourite song. I Want is second. I also like 'Happy!' and 'The Live Kakumei de SHOW!'. I will quote from my first post:

I wished that they revived some of the original songs. We have THE iDOLM@STER, Agent Yoru wo Yuku, 9:02pm, Positive!, but not: Here we Go!! (5 years have passed, Namco.), Ohayou!! Asagohan, Taiyou no Jelausy, First Stage and let's not forget, Aoi Tori. Some of those fantastic classics from the arcade game.

I'm quite dissapointed that they didn't even add 'Here We Go!!'. It hasn't appeared since THE iDOLM@STER 2! Neither in Shiny Festa and Shiny TV, nor in OFA! I'm starting to worry that they completly forgot 'Here We Go!!' It's really cute and I love it!

3. Gameplay

Rhythm elements are fine and OK to me. Trust me, I play LLSIF and sometimes Shiny Festa. Graphics are fantastic, as I pointed out in the first post.No rivals. Microtransactions.Rivals are important to the game. Sure, arcade, XBOX 360 import and LFU! don't have rivals, but we are competing against other people. Kinda like Score Match in LoveLive!, but diffrent. That's what made the games amazing.SP gave us the amazing 'Project Fairy', 2 introduced us 'Jupiter', a male group and 'Ryuuguu Komachi' 765 rivals and let's not forget in OFA, Leon! But, in the newest game: no rivals, no competing against other people; What is this mess!? The story progressed with rivals! Every idol probably has it's own rivals! Everyone wanted to be no. 1!OK... OK! Microtransactions: mobile games included and I don't really care. I always stay Free to play player. Pay to play is possible when you pay things for some features. But, microtransactions are not acceptable in any console games and I repeat: EVERY console game! You bought an 80 dollar game? Well... If you want to really play: you must buy more cash! How convinient! You know Halo 3 and microtransactions, CoD and microtransactions? They shouldn't be in a game! I hate the concept of P Drops!

I'm quite dissapointed with outfits. I mean, over the course of 11+ years, iM@S has been having types of outfits and recolours of it. I mean, I love the new outfits, but the problem is that they're the same. Probably exeption are the Happy! outfits, they are kinda diffrent. Others are same looking.Also, no EXTEND outfits. I mean, we have a Miracle Night outfit; But, where are Punkish Gothic or Beyond the Stars?

There are 4 types of outfits: Cute, Cool, Cosmic and Clever. No EXTEND. I'm OK with this. You know; iM@S has some of the best idol outfits. Now, we just get halfassed outfits. Happy! outfits look similar and this is the outfit that they had the most time with. Others; Nah, we're fine. I mean older outfit had the same design, but they were good! Those were EXTEND outfits! Floral, Cute and Girly, Starry, Cosmic and Funny, Luxury and Cool and Sexy were diffrent, because those were outfits that the entire 765pro ALLSTARD danced and it looked unique!No, older outfits from the other games. They were probably lazy.

5. DLCsDLC is such a joke now; that now include: a new song, two older songs, an outfit, accessories for that outfit! Who needs more outfits and more songs? Nah, we're fine. Fans will enjoy it. No. This is what you shouldn't think while developing a game and a DLC for it.

In coclusion; I will buy a PS3, im@s 2 and OFA. At least they are better than new. I mean, the graphics are better than the older ones, but still they are quite enjoyable and better than the new game! CG:SS is better than this and it is a MOBILE GAME! Is Namco now giving a middle finger to our beloved 765pro idols and released the game just for the fans of the 765pro idols? I think so.

I'm not sure why some people are complaining about the lack of songs. The Idolmaster games have always had about 15-20 songs at launch, and the rest are DLC songs that are released every month. It's not fair to compare a launch Platinum Stars to an Idolmaster game that has its songs fully released.

If you're going to compare it with other Idolmaster games, you have to compare it with their launch versions.

But, microtransactions are not acceptable in any console games and I repeat: EVERY console game! You bought an 80 dollar game? Well... If you want to really play: you must buy more cash! How convinient! You know Halo 3 and microtransactions, CoD and microtransactions? They shouldn't be in a game! I hate the concept of P Drops!

DLC is such a joke now

In coclusion; I will buy a PS3, im@s 2 and OFA. At least they are better than new. I mean, the graphics are better than the older ones, but still they are quite enjoyable and better than the new game! CG:SS is better than this and it is a MOBILE GAME! Is Namco now giving a middle finger to our beloved 765pro idols and released the game just for the fans of the 765pro idols? I think so.

The microtransactions in this game are actually really good for F2P players, pdrops are a way for a small minority of the community to pay for DLC that everyone has access to.

DLC has always been a joke, and people buying it is how Platinum Stars ended up like this.

People whining about the festivals when they probably including DLC amount to maybe 5-6 hours of the actual games content. Probably about 3 hours with no DLC. If you only did it with 1 idol, maybe about an hour. With only the last 4 involving any real strategy, and is watching your opponents voltage meter really that hard? Cause that is all that it was at the end of the day. CG:SS is in no way, shape, or form better then this game.

So is there even any underlying storyline in the game at all? Does each idol even have her own route/story like in previous games? Or is it just generic playing through performances and collecting costumes and accessories until you get boreDd?

There is story during the rankups and endings, kind of like One for All.

Some fun notes, since I'm wading via mass grinding, my way through to A rank

- There's an A rank, and an S rank

Each rank comes with additional skits/story. In short? We're not done yet.

To GET past the A rank, you're now expected to be GOOD at the game - namely, if you're not clearing 3 master songs with a full combo and a decent burst hold, you're never ever going to see the other end of most of the challenges that late B rank and the A rankup provides.

If you got costume RNG'd out, you're going to have a rough time, due to the scoring penalties you'll take. (If you don't have the right costume type, you'll score 50% normal)

You're expected to score 110k or so to pass. If you want to overachieve, you need to score 150k

If you were wondering, I got 124k, with 3x full combo clears and full burst holds on three master songs (Change, Watashi wa Idol and Miracle Night), with 2x level 47s and a 43. The cutoff is 110k. The EX is 150k. It bears repeating, because that's just what sort of standard you are expected to achieve.

- All Star lives go all the way up to S rank, and upon a normal clear, you will be given an opportunity to buy an item which will change sound effects with Kotori ones. Buy the item, TURN the damn thing off.

Oh right. You should be clearing the S rank all stars before you even qualify for A rank with anyone.

So how much harder can A rank be?

- Once you reach A rank, live performances will now mandate both a costume type (being clever, cosmic, cute and cool) as WELL as a costume category. If you miss both (Because costume drops) your scoring takes a stupid penalty, I assume 100%.

In short, your costume luck and unlocking is now IMPERATIVE to clearing a song. No costume, no scoring.

- You can tell if someone's made it to A rank - Upon clearing A rank for the first time, a stage will unlock for the first time.

That should tell you something right there. There is now a very clear minimum cutoff for how good you need to be to unlock all the stuff.

----

My hands hurt at this point, and as it stands, I'm clawing my way up the ranks. I wonder if I can get a monopoly on certain things for requests just due to the rising difficulty?

All the above shows that the random costume drops can prove an issue, and how the game is incredibly 'back loaded'. The whole thing also demonstrates that the design is more akin to a Shiny Fiesta sequel rather than a mainline title, but I don't think the advertising was promising anything else. The difficulty back loading makes the game look deceptively easy though for about 15-20 hours of the game though.

In short, if you were complaining about how this wasn't im@s2 or OFA, well, it never was supposed to be, it never was promised to be, and unless you can hack the game, you're going to have to find something else that does what you want.

All the above shows that the random costume drops can prove an issue, and how the game is incredibly 'back loaded'. The whole thing also demonstrates that the design is more akin to a Shiny Fiesta sequel rather than a mainline title, but I don't think the advertising was promising anything else. The difficulty back loading makes the game look deceptively easy though for about 15-20 hours of the game though.

So is there much to do once you get stuck during progress via either skill or costume luck? Do you just farm out some already completed lives and thats all you can do? Whats the best strategy for getting stronger once you are stuck?

So is there much to do once you get stuck during progress via either skill or costume luck? Do you just farm out some already completed lives and thats all you can do? Whats the best strategy for getting stronger once you are stuck?

Depends where you are in the game.

If you're pre-extreme live, you shouldn't be having any real trouble - if you can't full combo a pro level song, you're not going to get very far in Master - the songs will DEFINITELY be hard in Master.

If you're post extreme live, your first goal is to get EVERYONE to B rank ASAP. The costume appeal penalty for being under rank applies to all idols and it's calculated on a rank difference rate - this is important in All star Lives.

You'll want to see if you can land a S rank costume though. Oddly enough I've gotten more of them when I FAIL than when I succeed. It's like the game went 'Oh, you failed, here's some random S ranked costume'

I used a particular S ranked costume to coast me through the all star lives, and once you get there, you'll gain about 10k fans every 13 weeks.

I've also been working with someone else, who's been updating a pastebin on the gameplay thread. See there for various strategies.

If you're post extreme live, your first goal is to get EVERYONE to B rank ASAP. The costume appeal penalty for being under rank applies to all idols and it's calculated on a rank difference rate - this is important in All star Lives.

You'll want to see if you can land a S rank costume though. Oddly enough I've gotten more of them when I FAIL than when I succeed. It's like the game went 'Oh, you failed, here's some random S ranked costume'

I used a particular S ranked costume to coast me through the all star lives, and once you get there, you'll gain about 10k fans every 13 weeks.

I've also been working with someone else, who's been updating a pastebin on the gameplay thread. See there for various strategies.

Really good to know for the B rank, this is what I will work on. Right now I have EX cleared up to about 6 jobs in B rank that a cruddy costume is holding my score back on the one im currently on. Then I am on I believe the second or third B rank solo, and falling about 2-3k short. This is my first rhythm game of any type besides OFA which is nothing like this so master is definitely a challenge. Im not full comboing pro but im not far off. Is mastering master difficulty absolutely essential for A and S rank or can you grind out stats/upgrades to eventually pass it with pro?

Really good to know for the B rank, this is what I will work on. Right now I have EX cleared up to about 6 jobs in B rank that a cruddy costume is holding my score back on the one im currently on. Then I am on I believe the second or third B rank solo, and falling about 2-3k short. This is my first rhythm game of any type besides OFA which is nothing like this so master is definitely a challenge. Im not full comboing pro but im not far off. Is mastering master difficulty absolutely essential for A and S rank or can you grind out stats/upgrades to eventually pass it with pro?

Not a chance.

To pass the A rankup live, you will need to score 116000 points (I figured out the exact cutoff).

To do this, you get given a choice of 3 songs, and you are in a trio formation, as per usual rankups. There is no preferred costume, so you can field whatever you like.

Basically, you'll need to be able to reliably score about 39000 reliably for 3 songs to pass A rank.

If you can do this with pro songs, I'd really like to know, because I barely can pull it off with 3 Master songs, and it doesn't get easier even with 3 idols on A rank already.

To pass the A rankup live, you will need to score 116000 points (I figured out the exact cutoff).

To do this, you get given a choice of 3 songs, and you are in a trio formation, as per usual rankups. There is no preferred costume, so you can field whatever you like.

Basically, you'll need to be able to reliably score about 39000 reliably for 3 songs to pass A rank.

If you can do this with pro songs, I'd really like to know, because I barely can pull it off with 3 Master songs, and it doesn't get easier even with 3 idols on A rank already.

Get some high-notes songs like idolmaster (317) or live kakumei de show (300) to level 10 if you haven't already. Can't vouch for pro, but on master you'll easily pull 40k+ scores with any crappy costumes and idols at ~45lvl. And of course much more if you have S rank items.300 notes full combo for song level 1 = 1500 score for mainaining combo.300 notes full combo for song level 10 = 8250 score for mainaining combo.Well, leveling up a song is not a fast task though, especially if you wasted journals and were using different songs before, so there are many with level 2-3...

Get some high-notes songs like idolmaster (317) or live kakumei de show (300) to level 10 if you haven't already. Can't vouch for pro, but on master you'll easily pull 40k+ scores with any crappy costumes and idols at ~45lvl. And of course much more if you have S rank items.300 notes full combo for song level 1 = 1500 score for mainaining combo.300 notes full combo for song level 10 = 8250 score for mainaining combo.Well, leveling up a song is not a fast task though, especially if you wasted journals and were using different songs before, so there are many with level 2-3...

If you can maintain combo. The person asking mentioned issues maintaining full combo on some songs, and getting level 10 without a stack of magazines is going to take a while - it's what, 200 playthroughs of a song naturally? If you're lucky you'll have a stack, but that's RNG of course.

The highest note song from memory is Kiramekirari. The song has a very fast pattern, and should only be attempted if you know what you're doing, but also has 358 notes. I don't think any other song has more, and is surprisingly straightforward, just as you can guess, pretty high pace. If you want absolute scoring, there's your best shot, IF you can learn and execute correctly.

You'll need to try all the Master songs, and pick out a minimum of 3 normal songs (2 of which need to be Quintet for All star lives) and one of the 2 medleys. That is the minimum needed to survive A rank, really. Fortunately this isn't Extreme Diva difficulty with all the trimmings, but it's not that easy.

On a side note: If you know how to do it, you can utterly break All Star, due to how the stats are calculated, given the right costume setup. Once you can clear (or EX clear) S rank All Stars, you get quite a bit spread over the 13 idols.

To pass the A rankup live, you will need to score 116000 points (I figured out the exact cutoff).

To do this, you get given a choice of 3 songs, and you are in a trio formation, as per usual rankups. There is no preferred costume, so you can field whatever you like.

Basically, you'll need to be able to reliably score about 39000 reliably for 3 songs to pass A rank.

If you can do this with pro songs, I'd really like to know, because I barely can pull it off with 3 Master songs, and it doesn't get easier even with 3 idols on A rank already.

I assume you mean the rank up live you get at B rank once an idol reaches 1 million fans, if so I was able to do it with 3 regular songs using the S rank outfit that gives +6000 to a perfect chain. So theres hope for people who suck ;p

I assume you mean the rank up live you get at B rank once an idol reaches 1 million fans, if so I was able to do it with 3 regular songs using the S rank outfit that gives +6000 to a perfect chain. So theres hope for people who suck ;p

If you have that costume. I don't have that one. Or most of the good ones.

I miss story. Granted I can't read any japanese to save my life, but in Im@s 2 and OFA, I KNEW there was some sort of story. Here it's just kind of like a grind fest and just keep...going? I know that the whole thing has had a "reboot" and none of the IM@S girls are famous anymore from th eprevious games/movie and what not, but it seems odd to me that they go to a training camp to become idols, and then a few weeks later they are performing in a sold out arena?

Also, I REALLY miss rivals. IM@S 2 had Jupiter, who I loathed in the beginning because they were being mean to my IM@S girls, but that gave me a purpose to rank them all up and give it my all!

Now? I don't really have any motivation other then, "let's see how far I can go...?"

The outfits are a problem too. I like them and the designs are interesting, but they are just copy and paste really.

As well, there are some things that don't really make sense story wise since this game is a "New Main storyline game". For instance, if this game is a new storyline and a reboot of some sort, how come Risuko isn't still aiming to be a Producer? ((Or am I not noticing cause I can't understand Japanese? XP))

As well, how come Nanairo Button is a song even though Ryuuugu Komachi isn't a thing or has never existed in this world?! The song shouldn't exist!

I don't know. I like the game's graphics and what not, but story or plot wise, there's nothing. I miss rival concerts and having to fight against other idols in concerts and lives to win; it always gave me a rush!